178 Players Remain in the Millionaire Maker Event

A total of 1,466 players returned for the second day of the record-breaking $1,500 Millionaire Maker event and after nine one-hour levels, only 178 can still dream of winning the life-changing prize of $1,319,587.

Two players – Jonathan Dimmig and Yuliyan Kolev – lead the 178, each one having 632,000 chips, while Bart Lyabert is breathing down their necks with a 615,000 chip stack.

Day 2 started at an insane speed with nearly 300 players being eliminated in the first level of play. As a result, the competitors didn’t have to wait that long to see their wallets secured with at least a mincash. Piung Lee and Jeff Dumas were the not-so lucky ones to burst the bubble, but as opposed to the standard situation when the bubble boy leaves the tournament empty-handed, the two shared 819th place prize money for $1,346 apiece.

After that, the action just kept going until there were only 178 left. In the process, many casualties fell including familiar faces like Loni Harwood, Mike Sexton, Matt Glantz, Tony Gregg, and Randy “nanonoko” Lew. Others, like Andrew “BalugaWhale” Siedman and Greg Mueller, were luckier and have a chance to fight another day.

But don’t get too worried about the ones who were eliminated from the Millionaire Maker; they now seek redemption in the 2014 WSOP Event #9: $1,000 No Limit Hold’Em. With so many busts, the NLHE event that started yesterday attracted a total of 1,940 entrants battling for yet another gold bracelet and $323,125 in prize money.

Already, 1,779 left the poker felt after Day 1, leaving 161 behind with a genuine chance of hitting the jackpot.

Even the high-rollers had their fair share of action yesterday in Las Vegas. They could register for Event #10: $10,000 Limit Omaha Hi-Lo Split 8-or-Better, with 178 making that move. At the end of Day 1, however, 111 still have a stack in front of them, including big names like Eli Elezra, Daniel Negreanu, Nick Schulman, Alexander Luneau, and Stephen Chidwick. Also, Mixed Max NLHE winner Vanessa Selbst is among them and holds a 33,200 stack before the start of Day 2. Will she be able to double up on 2014 gold bracelets?